Parallel approach to tomographic reconstruction algorithm using a Nvidia GPU

A comparison between processing times of a standard serial algorithm and a parallel algorithm using Graphics Processing Unit (GPU) is presented here. Analysis was performed on an image of the Shepp–Logan phantom, obtained in a computed tomography (CT) study. Time, number of iterations and the structural similarity index (SSIM) metrics were use to quantify the quality of the reconstructed image by both methods. Parallel algorithms developed in CUDA can reconstruct images in times 2 orders of magnitude less than traditional methods, while keeping the same image quality. In conclusion, this system presents a good cost/effective setup for CT image reconstruction, viable for institutions with limited resources and countries of the developing world.